


A Different Way

by KDtheGhostwriter



Category: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi - Fandom
Genre: Den Mother Leia, Developing Relationship, Families of Choice, Force Ghosts, Friendship, Gen, Post-Canon, Post-Movie(s), Spoilers, With the threat of something more, kinda lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 15:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13034493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDtheGhostwriter/pseuds/KDtheGhostwriter
Summary: Poe Dameron will let himself be called many things: scoundrel, hot head, glory boy. One thing he isn't is rude. And what would be more rude than failing to thank the woman who saved the Resistance twice?





	A Different Way

**Author's Note:**

> Yes. I realize I should be focused on finishing JL: INVASION right now. But I did warn you this might happen.

Poe Dameron watches as the Millennium Falcon coasts out of hyperspace. He’s leaning against a porthole as the swirling tunnel of blue matter bleeds away to the endless black of deep space.

He’s a bit tired for thinking and, frankly, just happy to be alive. Escaping their initial battle with the First Order had been miraculous in the friendliest terms. Escaping to the hidden Rebel base and _then_ surviving a head-on assault from Kylo Ren himself?

Boy. The word ‘miracle’ didn’t seem strong enough.

Poe is counting stars when he sees the shadow creep across the table he’s seated at. He moves without looking because he doesn’t need to see. He just wraps his arms around General Organa as she stands over him, running comforting pats through his hair.

“I thought we lost you,” he mumbles into her robes.

“I could say the same thing, young man. Did you ever think once that maybe I ordered you back because I didn’t want anything to happen to you?”

Poe groans, hides his face further. “No. Cause I’m a bad friend.”

Leia pats his shoulder and moves to sit across from him. “You’re a good friend who made a bad decision. Luke did it, too, bless his heart. So, I won’t have you pouting. That’s an order.”

Poe sits up straight in his chair. He manages a smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Was there something else?”

Poe’s smile vanishes as he rubs his arm, sheepishly looking out the window.

“If you’re waiting for permission to speak freely,” Leia continued, “not sure why you’d start now.”

Poe nods. “Good point. I just,” he hovers his hands out over the table, “I wish someone had told me about the Hidden Salt Planet, is all, General. I wouldn’t have lashed out like I did if I wasn’t kept in the dark.”

Leia puts a hand to her mouth, thinking it over. She had passed on her plan to her next in command with the hope that it would be carried out in the event she was indisposed. One could imagine the surprise of waking up to a mutiny. Poe wouldn’t even dream of opposing Leia in that way.

“I know you wouldn’t. I’m sorry you found out that way. I can imagine how stressful it would have been sitting and waiting. She was a good person, but I’m afraid Admiral Holdo wasn’t the best communicator.”

Poe sits back and frowns, not because of the name. Holdo had been one of countless others who had sacrificed themselves that day so that the Resistance could live on even a few hours more. He’d been wrong about her in the end.

“May the Force be with her,” Poe says without thinking. He’s looking down into the table and doesn’t see Leia eyeing him.

“May the Force be with us all.”

Poe looks across the Falcon’s floor and sees Rose laid out on a seat, covered up and resting. Sitting up next to her was Finn, who had his arms crossed asleep in front of the ship’s Holo-Chess Table. He was equally exhausted after pulling her who knows how far across that scorching, barren wasteland.

“How’s Rose?” he asks while looking their way. “It looked bad.”

“It _is_ bad.” Leia wasn’t delicate. “She sustained heavy injuries when she went down. If Finn hadn’t got her back when he did…”

“I should thank her. When she wakes up.” Poe meets Leia’s eyes and sees the question behind them. “Finn’s my best friend and she saved his life. I wouldn’t wanna finish this fight without him.” Poe lets a smile creep back across his face. “Now I won’t have to.”

Poe’s face becomes more neutral as he sees someone else enter the area. It’s Rey, with a blanket her hands that she drapes over Finn’s shoulders. She bends down to peck a kiss onto his forehead and Poe thinks now he knows why Finn likes her so much. Poe wasn’t always the best friend – or best person, really – but she clearly was. Even he could see that.

“Have you introduced yourself at least?”

He’d been staring, but his demeanor won’t let him acknowledge that by snapping his gaze back to his Commanding Officer. He calmly turns his head forward and shrugs back into place.

“Of course. Earlier. I-” he stops to twirl two fingers near his head. “It was just names, really. Everyone was still in ‘Yay, We’re Alive’ mode, ya know?”

“Mhm,” is all Leia says.

Rey steps away from Finn and begins to walk toward the hallway he knows leads back to the bridge. He sees her face light up briefly and ponders it until he sees her drop down to pet BB-8. He smiles slightly as he hears a rapid succession of beeps and whirs and pops coming from the droid. BB-8 _really_ likes her.

Rey continues on to the hallway and Poe stands from his seat three seconds after.

“You know,” Poe says with a stretch, “I was thinking maybe I should thank Rey, too. I mean, it’s not every day you’re roomies with the person that saved your ass twice, right?”

Leia Organa says nothing at first. She only smiles up at Poe, shaking her head with noted affection. Poe is grinning with his hands behind his head when she says, “May the Force be with you.”

Poe bends low to plant a kiss on her cheek. He walks away and says, “May the Force be with us all.”

 

Two steps into the hallway and Poe nearly falls down. He thanks himself for waiting, ensuring that no one saw his near catastrophe. Then, he looks down and sees the cause of said catastrophe.

“BB-8?”

_boopboopboopbwaboop_

“What are you doin’ here, huh?”

_bwaboopboopbwaboop_

“Yes, I’m going to talk to Rey. Is there a problem with that?”

_bwabopboopbeeeepbwapawop_

“Tch. What’s that supposed to mean?”

_bopboopboopbwoow_

“Hm. T-R-U, pal. Well, do you wanna sit there and snicker or do you wanna help your brother out?” Poe throws his hands up because he knows good and well what BB-8 would rather do. “Hey, c’mon, do me a solid, alright?”

_boboopboopboopbwap_

“Oh, I’ll tell ya how.” Poe kneels down to get eye-level with his friend. He points at the droid and then down the hall as he addresses him. “You, BB-8, are impossibly adorable. Correct?”

_bwaaapop_

“Correct. So, I need you to go and break the ice.”

bwooowbopbopbop

Poe rolls his eyes. “No, not like _that!_ I just need you to see if she’s busy so that I won’t be trolling the halls like some shoob.”

_bwaaaboobooboopbwobooo_

“That’s not the point! Get going!”

Poe stands and gives BB-8 a gentle tap with his boot, causing the droid to overdramatically wail their way down the hallway. The histrionics nearly have Poe in a laughing fit as he slowly trails behind. From further up, he can hear a door slide open and then Rey’s voice as she greets BB-8. He hears the droid’s beeps and boops from around the corner and then sees Rey before she answers their question.

“Busy? No, not especially. Why do you ask?”

_bweeeeeeeep_

“Really? It’s urgent?”

“I think ‘urgent’ might be a bit of an oversell.”

Rey looks up to where Poe is standing with his hands jammed into his jacket.

He smirks. “My buddy’s a bit of a Drama Queen, though.”

_bwoooooooow_

“Yes, you are. Don’t deny it.”

Free from its binds, Rey’s hair flows down into the space between her shoulder blades. She’s smiling, which Poe counts as a good start.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“How’s your shoulder?”

Rey brushes a hand over the bandage on her right shoulder. She hums in thought. “Still a bit sore. But the injury was superficial. I’ll live.”

“Bet you’ve lived through a lot worse.”

“We all have at this point, Poe.”

“You remember me?”

“Yes, and you knew me already. I suppose word travels fast amongst such small ranks.”

Poe shrugs at the statement, subtly takes one step closer. “That’s true, but that’s not how I know you.”

She quirks her head and waits for his explanation.

“My buddy Finn was in a coma for days on end. He wakes up, stumbles out into the hall, and the first thing he asks me is where Rey is.”

Rey suddenly shifts eye contact away from Poe. He thinks he sees a blush crawl across her face.

“I didn’t know who you were at the time, but then I see this woman screaming out of the sky in the Millennium Falcon, blasting away at the Knights of Ren. I figure there could only be so many culprits.”

Rey looks at him again. She brings a hand to her bad shoulder and grins. “Lucky guess, Commander.”

Poe laughs a bit. “Think you’d be hard pressed to find someone more intimate with luck than me, General.”

Rey’s smile weakens a bit, but she isn’t offended as she shakes her head. “I’m no General.”

“I disagree. During the Clone Wars, the Galactic Republic had a very particular chain of command in place. There were your regular officers and brass of course, but, Jedi Knights were given special designation as Generals to lead the Clone Army into battle. Now, I don’t know much about the Order, but I do know there’s a certain word reserved for a person that can move a pile of rocks just by pointing at them.”

Rey’s expression changes after hearing that. No longer passive; she holds an interest in the fighter pilot. She turns to face him fully and tilts her chin.

“Oh,” she says. “You’re a clever one, aren’t you?”

Poe runs a hand into his jacket lining. For the first time he’s a bit nervous. “Uh, yeah. Given my recent track record, I’d say ‘clever’ is very generous.”

“We’ll see.” She says this without an ounce of suggestion and drifts in the other direction. “Fancy a bit of a stroll?”

“Sure! Hey buddy, do you wan-” Poe lifts his foot, then makes a full rotation to locate his friend. “BB-8? Huh. Guess it’s us.”

“Guess so.”

 

\-----------------------------

 

“So. It’s everywhere? Like… _everywhere_?”

“Everywhere. Master Luke told me the Jedi once tried to lay claim to the Force and its ways, but he showed me the truth. It’s Presence is in all living things. We may only use it as our tool to guide us.”

“Sounds nice. Just don’t ask me to fly without a targeting computer anytime soon.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Poe was sitting with Rey in her quarters, learning more about the Jedi Order. They were each holding a tome of ancient script, but he found it easier listening to Rey than reading the book. A page turner it was not. He doesn’t know how much stock he puts in the ‘Force’ or whatever, but he knows what he’s seen. He felt it when Luke Skywalker walked past him in the base on Crait. The man faced down an entire battalion. The power was undeniable. To think Rey might have that same power…

“How much of this did Luke teach you?”

“Enough,” she says not looking from her page. “Enough to know what I’m doing now.”

He nods. There’s something else he wants to ask her that seems pretty soon. But he’s sitting with her now reading the Jedi’s most sacred text. Even if he doesn’t _get_ it, he understands the significance of her letting him see it.

“Is he…?” Rey seems to sense what he’s working toward and looks up. “Is he gone?”

Rey frowns, but nods. “Yes. And no.”

“ _And_ no?”

“It’s…rather difficult to explain, Poe. Master Luke is no longer with us. He’s passed on from this world. But I can feel his presence in the Force. I believe he’s watching over me.”

Poe blinks. “Oh,” is all he thinks to say.

“Well, of course you wouldn’t believe me.”

“No, no! It’s not that. I’m just…not in tune with this stuff like you are. The only time Nature talks to me is when it’s time to hit the can.”

Poe can see her giggle from behind her book and the sight has him feeling brave.

“Luke Skywalker. That’s a hell of a guardian to have.”

Rey beams as she looks back down to her book. “I know.”

They fall into a silence after that. It’s a comfortable one, but it also means Poe is left to read the book without any aural stimulation. It proves difficult. Still, he finds himself halfway through a section on meditation that he’s found interesting when he feels a weight on his feet.

He peers over the top of the book and sees Rey seated perpendicular from him, feet kicked up on his own, steepled atop each other. It’s a yarn. He knows it. Or maybe one of those Jedi Mind Tricks she went on about. Either way, he’s seeing things and he glances over to confirm this. Rey doesn’t look away from the page for an instant. Poe looks back down and - good grief. Now she’s tapping her toes sideways onto his. He turns his head fully in her direction this time. Rey has the book shielding her entire face.

Poe quickly brings a hand to his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He wouldn’t bother telling BB-8. They’d never believe him.

And then her feet are off his lightning quick. Poe is about to ask what the matter is but stops when he sees Rey coiled upright in her chair, looking into the far corner of the room. He can’t see anything, but something is there. He closes and sets down the book. Gingerly, in case he might offend whatever’s decided to join them.

“What is it, Rey?” A beat. “ _Who_ is it?”

“Master Luke…”

Poe takes in a breath. “Master Luke? Here? Uh, do I need to go or…?”

“You can stay,” she says. A moment later she rounds back on the empty corner, indignant. “Yes, Poe _can_ stay!”

“Really, it’s not a big deal. I can go if-” Rey signals him to sit with one hand without looking. “Or I can stay.”

“Yes, of course this is Poe! Who else would it be?”

…

“We were chatting, obviously.”

…

“He- He is _not!”_

A deep red flush reaches all the way back to her ears when she says this. Poe will read into that more later. For now, he’s watching as Rey seems to be listening intently to some very important info. Poe can only assume it’s important because of the way her brow creases and her teeth hover over themselves.

“Is that right?” she asks. “I can do that?” _gasp!_ “I can do _that?!_ Well this all would have been handy to know _before_ you let me fly off to Snoke’s ship alone! You did so!”

She lets her book slam to the ground, then peers over to give Poe a look somewhere between apologetic and assertive. He needs no clue.

“I should go?”

“You should go.”

Poe is all but pushed through the door and hears the pneumatics slide close behind him. He spins on his heel and raises a finger to the blank wall.

“Talk to you later, then?”

The door opens and Rey pokes her head through the opening. She’s grinning up at him with an eyebrow raised. Poe realizes immediately what he said.

“Small ranks. I’ll definitely talk to you later. Official Rebel Business.”

Rey ducks back into her quarters without a word. Poe covers his eyes, again hoping no one bore witness. He feels something heavy run into his leg and figures even he can’t be so lucky all the time.

“Hey, you. How much of that did you see?”

_bwooooowhonkhonk_

“Yeah, well, that figures. By the way, pal, I think you’ve finally met your match in being adorable.”

_arooooo_

“Oh, it’s true. Rey’s got you beat cold.”

_bwompoooom_

“She’s nice. But I’m glad she’s on our side.”

_bapboopboopboopbeepbeep_

“Haha! I bet that’s true, buddy! Hey, we’ve had a long day, though. What do say we call it, huh?”

BB-8 chirps their agreement and rolls ahead of Poe back toward the main area where the remainder of the Resistance is housed. It’ll be nice to find an AO and get a new base up and running. If for no other reason than the space it would provide. Presently, Poe can only thank the stars (and the Force, why not) that a Resistance still even exists. The recently departed Master Jedi was a big reason why. He bought just enough time for them to find a way out and then, for Rey to find them. Poe has a thought and, wistfully, murmurs it aloud to the empty hallway.

“Luke Skywalker knows my name.”

**Author's Note:**

> In the tradition of taking a few moments of character interaction and expanding it into a full story. My man thought nobody noticed.


End file.
